UN|yERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 


3  1822  02349  4610 


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LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFOF^NIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

nrnmsny  of  California,  san  diegd 

LA  JOLLA.  CALIFORNIA 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 


,     3  1822  02349  4610    ^  ^2^1 


PHILIPPINE  FORGE  GROUP 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 


CHICAGO 
1922 


] 
Field  Museum  of  Natural  History      r^^^ 

Departmknt  of  Anthropology 

Chicago,  1922  V'  tX— 


Leaflet  Number  2 

The  Philippine  Forge  Group 

(Hall  9,  Case  21) 

The  finest  headaxes  and  spear-points  made  in  north- 
western Luzon  (Philippine  Islands)  come  from  Balbala- 
sang  and  the  other  villages  of  the  upper  Buklok,  or 
Saltan  river,  just  at  the  boundary  between  the  Tinguian 
and  Kalinga  tribes.  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  in  this 
and  in  other  more  or  less  isolated  districts  of  the 
Philippines  we  find  the  peculiar  method  of  iron-working, 
which  is  here  described,  while  along  the  coast  it  has 
vanished,  or  is  of  little  importance. 

The  same  condition  is  found  in  Assam,  Burma, 
Eastern  Madagascar,  Sumatra,  Java,  Borneo,  and  other 
islands  to  the  east,  making  it  evident  that  iron-working 
was  an  ancient  art  throughout  Malaysia,  and  that  it 
spread  from  a  common  center. 

The  Tinguian  iron-workers  do  not  mine  or  smelt  the 
native  ore,  although  there  is  an  abundance  in  their 
territory,  but  secure  the  metal  from  Chinese  traders  on 
the  coast.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  many  of  the  pagan 
tribes  of  the  islands  to  the  south  do  now,  or  did  until 
recently,  smelt  the  ore,  it  seems  altogether  probable  that 
the  Philippine  tribesman  also  had  knowledge  of  the 
process,  but  gave  it  up  when  trade  relations  made  such 
arduous  work  unnecessary. 

The  forge  here  illustrated  comes  from  Inalagan,  one 
of  the  small  settlements  which  makes  up  the  community 
of  Balbalasang  ("the  town  of  many  maidens").  It  stood 
in  a  small  structure  with  grass  roof,  but  without  sides 
or  floor.     At  one  end  of  such  a  structure  is  a  bamboo 

rn 


2  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

bench,  in  front  of  which  stands  the  bellows — two  up- 
right cylinders  made  of  logs  hollowed  out.  In  each  of 
these  is  a  piston  or  plunger,  at  the  lower  end  of  which 
is  a  wooden  ring  packed  with  corn  husks  and  chicken 
feathers.  When  a  plunger  is  pushed  downward  in  the 
cylinder,  it  compresses  the  air  and  forces  it  out  of  the 
small  opening  in  the  base,  but  when  it  is  drawn  up,  the 
packing  collapses  and  allows  it  to  be  raised  without 
effort.  These  pistons  are  worked  alternately  so  that 
one  is  rising,  while  the  other  is  falling. 

Two  bamboo  tubes,  attached  to  the  bellows,  conduct 
the  air  into  a  cylinder  of  fire  clay,  and  this  in  turn 
carries  it  into  the  charcoal  fire.  These  bamboos  fit 
loosely  into  the  clay  cylinder,  thus  taking  the  place  of 
valves  and  preventing  the  drawing  of  the  fire  back  into 
the  bellows. 

Near  to  the  hearth  is  a  stone  anvil,  while  a  heavy 
stone  hammer,  a  small  stone  hammer,  and  pinchers  of 
the  same  material  complete  the  outfit.  The  fire  is 
lighted,  and  the  operator  sitting  on  the  bench  raises  and 
lowers  the  plungers  in  the  cylinders  until  the  fire  burns 
brightly;  then  the  smith  puts  the  metal  into  the  coals, 
and  allows  it  to  remain  until  it  reaches  a  white  heat. 
It  is  then  removed  and  placed  on  the  anvil,  where  his 
helper  beats  it  out  with  the  large  hammer.  This  is  a 
stone  weighing  twenty  or  more  pounds,  fitted  inside  the 
handles,  so  that  it  can  be  used  with  both  hands.  As  a 
rule,  it  is  swung  between  the  legs,  and  is  allowed  to 
strike  the  metal  as  it  descends,  but  some  of  the  men 
raise  it  above  the  shoulder  and  strike  a  much  more 
powerful  blow.  If  two  pieces  of  metal  are  to  be  welded 
together,  as  is  often  the  case  when  broken  cauldrons  are 
used,  they  are  laid  one  overlapping  the  other,  and  are 
held  together  with  damp  fire  clay.  In  this  condition 
they  are  placed  in  the   fire   and   heated,   being   then 

[2] 


The  Philippine  Forge  Group  3 

beaten  together.      It  often  takes  several  firing's  to  bring 
about  a  perfect  weld. 

After  the  initial  shaping,  the  smith  completes  the 
work  with  the  small  hammer,  and  the  blade  is  again 
inserted  in  the  fire  and  brought  to  a  white  heat.  Then 
the  smith  withdraws  it  and  watches  it  intently,  until  the 
white  tone  begins  to  turn  to  a  greenish-yellow,  when  he 
plunges  it  into  water.  The  tempered  blade  is  now 
smoothed  down  with  sandstone,  and  is  whetted  to  a  keen 
edge.  Headaxes,  spear  heads,  adzes,  a  few  knives,  and 
the  metal  ends  for  the  spear-shafts  are  the  principal 
products  of  the  forge. 

The  blades  are  by  no  means  of  equal  temper  or  per- 
fection, but  the  smiths  of  the  Tinguian-Kalinga  border 
villages  seldom  turn  out  poor  weapons  and,  as  a  result, 
their  spears  and  headaxes  have  a  wide  distribution  over 
northwestern  Luzon. 

The  material  and  data  for  this  group  were  gathered 
by  F.  C.  Cole  in  connection  with  the  Robert  F.  Cummings 
Philippine  Expedition  during  the  years  1907-08.  The 
modeling  is  the  work  of  Clyde  Gardner. 


REFERENCES  TO  IRON-WORKING  IN  MALAYSIA 

Cole,  Wild  Tribes  of  Davao  District,  Mindanao  (Field  Museum  of 
Natural  History,  Anthropological  Series,  Vol.  XII,  No.  2, 
pp.  82-83). 

Hose  and  McDougall,  Pagan  Tribes  of  Borneo,  Vol.  I,  pp.  194-5. 

Raffles,  History  of  Java,  Vol.  I,  pp.  192-3. 

Mardsen,  History  of  Sumatra,  3d  ed.,  p.  181. 

Ferrais,  Burma,  p.  105. 

Rockhill,  T'oung  Pao,  Vol.  XVI,  1915,  pp.  268-269. 

Blair  and  Robertson,  The  Philippine  Islands,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  299; 
Vol.  XL,  p.  48. 

Beccari,  Wanderings  in  the  Great  Forests  of  Borneo,  pp.  282-283. 

F.  C.  Cole. 


[3] 


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UCSOUTHtR^REGIOPJAL 


AA    001081028 


